


Accountable

by quigonejinn



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-17
Updated: 2012-09-17
Packaged: 2017-11-14 10:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/514144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quigonejinn/pseuds/quigonejinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>This universe branches late in the game.</i>  Tony Stark and the universe where he builds the Iron Man Mark II for Jim.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Accountable

**Author's Note:**

> First posted [September 13, 2008](http://quigonejinn.dreamwidth.org/141764.html).

"Jarvis?" 

...

This universe branches late in the game. Tony is born to Howard and Maria Stark. Tony is a genius; his parents are millionaires. They die when he is nineteen, and Tony inherits all their property. He becomes a billionaire in the early nineties when Stark Industries's market cap hits five billion. He hires Pepper as his assistant; he has Rhodey and Obie and Happy as friends. He goes to Afghanistan. 

All that stays the same. All that is exactly as you remember it. 

Here is the point of departure: Tony does not wait until after he has had the press conference to ask Rhodey to help him. They're on the tarmac in at the Air Force base with the Kush mountains in the background, waiting for the transport to land so they can get Tony to Rammstein. Tony is in a wheelchair; he insisted on standing to wait for the plane, but couldn't stay on his feet in the heat, and as they're watching the plane drop landing gear and come in for the approach, Tony grabs Rhodey's hand and makes him promise to come see what he's working on. Tony's face is the color of silly putty, and he is, at this point, stuck in the wheelchair. He tried getting up earlier. He tried. And failed. 

Jim pretty much has to say yes, and being a man of his word, he has to come by afterwards, at least to take a look, no matter how pissed he is, when Tony calls him up and reminds him of the promise. 

...

Jim's rationale for helping Tony with the suit: he says he's not making weapons anymore, but what the hell is he putting together but an F-22/mechanized infantry division/portable missile battery/God knows what else that'll fit into a couple of suitcases? 

Tony's rationale for building the suit for Jim: none, really. He'd rather be in the suit, but Jim Rhodes makes it a condition of him being there. Tony, he points out, has just had major thoracic surgery. And Jim is the pilot. Tony wants Lt. Colonel Jim Rhodes to risk his fucking neck and stripes to do this crazy-ass shit? Then Lt. Colonel Jim Rhodes is going to be the one in the suit. Tony tries Scotch, as there isn't any sake in the house, plus he is way too tired to warm it up, and he tries complaining, and he tries bitching, but Rhodey won't budge. 

So Tony builds the Mark II for Jim. And the Mark III. 

And Gulmira never happens. 

...

"Jim? Where are you? Tony?" 

...

Tony goes to the Firefighter's Benefit. A successful test flight is a successful test flight, but an unsuccessful attempt at getting with your personal assistant is an unsuccessful attempt. He goes down to the bar and orders two dirty martinis, and Christine Everhart finds him and shows him the photographs. Tony staggers out onto the red carpet, and Obadiah cuts Tony's heart out halfway, then tells Tony to turn around so they can take some photos, then cuts Tony's heart the rest of the way out and hands it to him. Shock does not cover Tony's reaction. Stunned. Frozen in place. 

About twenty-five minutes later, Tony is doing about a hundred and ten down the freeway. Tony calls Jim; Jim hangs up on him. Tony calls him back. 

They have the worst fight in the history of their friendship. 

...

In retrospect, maybe Tony should have insisted on being the one to fly the suit: Gulmira never happens because the suit isn't built for Tony, but Obadiah nevertheless finds out about the Mark I. Raza still tries to get Obadiah to bring the Mark I to life. Obadiah has seen the arc reactor. Obadiah has known Tony for thirty years. He puts two and two together, and he goes to Tony's house. He uses the paralyzers; he takes the arc reactor right out of the suit. 

...

"Tony? Jim? Where are you?" 

...

"She's with five agents. They're about to arrest Obadiah."

"That's not going to be enough." 

Tony starts to turn towards the suit, hanging in the corner, but Rhodey grabs him by the forearm. 

"No. No way. Tony. That arc reactor is going in your chest, and -- " 

...

When Tony comes home from the benefit, he turns on the news and listens. He tries on the gauntlets. They don't quite fit, but he jams them on anyways, and there is, in fact, no backup arc reactor: Jim takes the arc reactor out of Tony's chest, not Pepper, and when Tony tells him to destroy it, Jim does. No, it's not like he believes Tony and that bullshit line about being nostalgic, but it's a security hazard. 

"Look," Tony says, panting. "Five agents. It's not going to be enough. You haven't seen the suit that Oba -- Stane has. Take the suit and the reactor. I'll hook myself up to a car battery. It worked for two weeks in a cave, right? Go save Pepper." 

Jim looks from Tony's face to the suit. Back to Tony's face. 

"And you remember what happened when I tried to wear the thing." 

The broken glass and the hole in the ceiling is pretty good proof. The sensors aren't calibrated, and Tony isn't trained. 

"Motherfuck," Jim says, finally, and leans Tony against the table and strides to the suit. 

...

"Don't waste it," Yinsen had said. 

...

The machines come up and around Jim, and he looks at Tony, leaning against the side of the Shelby, hooking up cable leads to the hole inside his chest. The Bluetooth set from his phone is tucked into his ear, and Tony's face is the color of putty. Worse than on the runway, waiting for the transport. Jim clenches his jaw, and his hand clenches up, too. The servo that is supposed to putting the hand piece on whines in disappointment. 

"I'm fine," Tony says, fastening the end of the cable. 

There's a hole in the ceiling and shattered glass all around. The gauntlets and Repulsor handpieces will just barely fit Tony, but the chestpiece and the legs and flight stabilizers are calibrated for Jim. They spent three weeks doing it, and -- 

"Go." 

The helmet comes down, and the world goes green and black. Tony slumps against the car and fixes the end of of the cable to the battery terminal, then looks over, and yeah, Jim's hand tightens into a fist again, but this time, a Stark Repulsor lies between wrist and fingers. He is going to hurt Obadi -- 

...

"Cool, hunh? It's a pretty fucking cool suit."

"Are you hooked into the car battery yet?"

"Yeah, whatever. I am. Tell me what a fucking cool suit I made for you."

...

"So my dad says -- " 

"Tony, you may not have noticed, but I'm kind of in the middle of a fi -- "

"No, listen, Rhodey. So me and my dad -- " 

...

"No, listen, Rhodey. So me and my dad -- " 

Jim is busy ducking a bus, and Tony will not shut up. 

...

Pepper has been one of Tony's buttons for years: Obadiah knows it. Pepper knows it. One time, she was stupid and exhausted from working thirty hours straight and flying over five time zones, so she rolled through a flashing red light when she shouldn't have. It was a low-speed collision, and Pepper got off with nothing but a twisted neck and some bruises from her seatbelt, but a collision nonetheless. Tony had a freak out in his own way, insisted that it was a mechanical problem. That was when Pepper got the company-issued Audi, and when Pepper comes down into the shop after the 3AM call, she finds Tony sitting in the dark with a bruised forearm and broken glass all around. He smashed every glass pane in the place. 

"This is a ghost drive," he says to her. Pepper looks at her hand like he has just put a snake in it, and she quits. And ten seconds later, she comes back and tells Tony that he's all she has, too, and he has his sunglassess on, but -- 

So yes, Obadiah knows that Pepper has been an easy way to get to Tony for years. 

So yes, Obadiah says, "It's a pity you had to get her involved." 

...

"Talk to me Rhodey. Tell me what a fucking cool suit I made for you. I want to know what it's like."

Jim doesn't know: it took some persuading before he came by Tony's place. By that time, Tony had already designed and built the arc reactor, and Jim takes the reactor and puts it back in without incident, and car batteries are shit in the way of pacemakers. 

Tony is also shit in the way of being a liar: the second arc reactor isn't even built to take an external power source. 

...

Tony isn't comfortable with a system with zero accountability. 

...

Jim is busy ducking a bus, and Tony will not shut up. 

So Jim hangs up.

Tony doesn't call back. 

...

"Don't waste it," Yinsen had said. 

...

"Tony, where are you?" 

The lights are off and stay off. This surprises Pepper, but she is also more surprised when Jarvis doesn't greet her at the door until she realizes Obadiah probably took Jarvis down. That's why the lights are off. That's why the gate was open. But where are Tony and Jim? Does Jim have him at the hospital already? She calls Jim's phone again, which is jacked into his suit, but he doesn't pick up, and she starts the climb down to the shop. It's the only place they could be. The lights are off there, though, and Pepper bites her lip and holds onto the railing. 

Lighting down there is on a separate system than the rest of the house; it's keyed to Tony's voice and nobody else's. Not Pepper, not Jim, nobody, and if it doesn't detect Tony's voice for fifteen minutes, it turns off the lights because when has Tony ever gone fifteen minutes without talking? Tony Stark cares about the environment, and Pepper gets down to the bottom of the stairs and stops and has to hang onto the railing because Jim still in the suit with Tony in his arms, he has his mask up, and the the arc reactor is the only light in the room, playing over Tony's face and the gap in his chest, and SHIELD agents are pushing past her and -- 

...

In retrospect, it would have been better if Tony had waited until after the press conference to ask. Nevertheless. 

"Don't waste your life, Tony," Yinsen had said.

Tony tries not to.

**Author's Note:**

> So yes, this began ages ago in a convo with liviapenn back when IM fandom was hot and heavy and the new kid on the block. And I've been spamming dafnap and jamaillith with it on and off for. Um. Months. And the amonitrate and I got to talking about it, and she ironed out the last bits of it for me and came up with the timer for the basement shop and the way to talk about Pepper being one of T's buttons and. 
> 
> Let's face it. Rhodey would make a much better superhero than Tony would, wouldn't he?


End file.
